Just looked at the draw, if Suwon get through the playoff, they will be in group H. In looking at the group I started thinking that Suwon was previously in a group with those same teams. So I went looking and was correct. The 2011 edition group H had Suwon, Kashima, Sydney and Shanghai Shenhua in the same group with Suwon topping the group on goal differential over Kashima and Suwon made it to the semifinal round where they got into a fight with Al-Sadd (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xidChBd9BM8) I was in the supporters section the night of the fight! Maybe the 2018 edition will be good to the Bluewings as well.

Despite the AFC's best efforts to engineer a West Asian winner of the tournament, Al Saad's controversial 2011 run to the title is still the only win by a West Asian side since Al Ittihad defended their crown in 2005..

Suwon Bluewings continues their pre-season form with another win in the ACL play-offs. The new players were good once again. Let's see how they will do against tougher opponents in the group stage. Their group seems to be quite strong.

Nice to see a 'smaller' club like Kitchee make it to the group stage. Not sure that they'll pick up any points, but at least they'll have the opportunity.

Also, I don't follow Uzbek football that closely, but I'm surprised neither Pakhtakor nor Bunyodkor qualified for the AFC CL this season.

In Yangju, if your cabbage doesn't understand you and you have valid reason for not eating it, then it is ok to go to other vegetables for your kimchi - though strictly nothing from south of Namyangju. -- Martyrs Forever

How do the Hong Kong teams rank against the teams from Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore and Indonesia? I know that some of the Thai teams (Buriram?) have some money-bags owners behind them and some of the Indonesian sides get home gate many times what Korean teams draw. Are the Hong Kong sides smaller than the South-east Asian sides? I remember one of my uni mates turning out for the Hong Kong Football Club which told me everything I need to know about their strength in depth.

The HK Premier League isn't a fantastic competition. Kitchee and Eastern are usually miles ahead of the rest (although Eastern is struggling this season).

HKFC is a yo-yo club that bounces between the Premier League and the First Division. They struggled in the Prem last season, picking up just two wins and no draws in 20 games, and were part of the most lopsided scoreline of the season (a 10-0 loss to Kitchee). They also field a reserve side - might that be where your friend played?